Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vertical alignment liquid crystal display apparatus.
Description of the Background Art
There are known vertical alignment liquid crystal display apparatuses comprising substrates that are disposed facing each other, and a vertical alignment type liquid crystal layer provided between these substrates. Such a vertical alignment liquid crystal display apparatus has substantially zero retardation in the liquid crystal layer, making it possible to achieve a high-contrast normally black display using two polarizers arranged in a crossed-Nicol alignment.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-252298 (Patent Document 1) discloses a vertical alignment liquid crystal display apparatus comprising a display part having any shape, the liquid crystal display apparatus being provided with a plurality of openings in each electrode constituting the display part. Specifically, the openings provided to the electrodes of the upper and lower substrates are each formed into a rectangular shape that is long and narrow along one direction, and the openings of the upper substrate and the openings of the lower substrate are alternately disposed along a short direction of the openings in a planar view. The provision of such openings makes it possible to form a dual-domain alignment in which the inclination directions of the liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer differ from each other by 180 degrees when a voltage greater than or equal to a threshold voltage has been applied to the liquid crystal layer. As a result, viewing angle characteristics during a light display are improved, and a liquid crystal display apparatus having excellent display quality is achieved.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-256300 (Patent Document 2) discloses a liquid crystal display apparatus provided with a plurality of first openings and a plurality of second openings respectively disposed in the electrodes of the upper and lower substrates so that longitudinal directions thereof are substantially orthogonal to each other. In this liquid crystal display apparatus, two polarizers arranged in a crossed-Nicol alignment are disposed sandwiching the upper and lower substrates, and absorption axes of the polarizers are disposed so as to form a substantially 45 degree angle in both a longitudinal direction of the first openings and a longitudinal direction of the second openings described above. Then, the first openings and the second openings of the respective openings of the upper and lower substrates are alternately arranged along the absorption axis direction of one of the polarizers in the planar view. The provision of such a plurality of openings makes it possible to form a quadruple-domain alignment in which liquid crystal molecules in the liquid crystal layer incline in four different directions when a voltage greater than or equal to a threshold voltage has been applied to the liquid crystal layer. As a result, a light display state that is uniform from all directions is achieved, and a liquid crystal display apparatus having viewing angle characteristics that are further improved than those of the liquid crystal display apparatus having the dual-domain alignment described above is achieved.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2008-129050 (Patent Document 3) discloses a liquid crystal display apparatus in which arrangement pitches of the first openings and the second openings of the liquid crystal display apparatus in Patent Document 2 described above are shifted by a half pitch.
According to such a configuration, a distance between a first opening and a second opening disposed closest can be further increased, making it possible to decrease the possibility of increased electrode resistance and disconnection, and achieve favorable viewing angle characteristics by the quadruple-domain alignment.
However, a vertical alignment liquid crystal display apparatus may be fabricated on the basis of the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 3 described above and result in observation of a graininess in a display surface during a light display. Such a graininess decreases the display quality of the liquid crystal display apparatus, and thus improvement is desired.
It is therefore an object of the specific aspects according to the present invention to decrease a graininess in a display surface of a vertical alignment liquid crystal display apparatus comprising a plurality of openings, and improve a display quality.